Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of April 16:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Velasquez, Vince 3611 | pi sp | phi nl | 4.0 |
| 2 | Salazar, Danny 3223 | pi sp | cle al | 3.4 |
| 3 | Arrieta, Jake 2738 | pi sp | chi nl | 3.0 |
| 4 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 3.0 |
| 5 | Volquez, Edinson 2220 | pi sp | kc al | 2.7 |
| 6 | Bettis, Chad 3481 | pi sp | col nl | 2.7 |
| 7 | Ross, Joe 3499 | pi sp | dc nl | 2.7 |
| 8 | Latos, Mat 2644 | pi sp | chi al | 2.7 |
| 9 | Davis, Chris 2478 | 1b | bal al | 2.5 |
| 10 | Brown, Trevor 3610 | ca | sf nl | 2.5 |
Arrieta struck out eight over eight scoreless innings, allowing five hits, in the 6-2 win over the Rockies. Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season and rising to third place in season player rankings. Arrieta led all players in 2015 with 29.1 Box-Toppers points.
American League Player of the Day—Rays pitcher Erasmo Ramirez pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out four, in the 7-2 win over the White Sox.
National League Batter of the Day—Nick Markakis of the Braves doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring once and driving in three runs, in the 6-4 win over the Marlins.
With the 1.5 Box-Toppers points earned for being NL Batter of the Day Saturday, Markakis has now earned Box-Toppers points in 11 straight seasons. He earned his first points in 2006 with the Orioles and has 43.6 career points, which ranks 14th among active NL outfielders. His best season was 2009 with the Orioles when he had 7.7 points, sixth among AL outfielders. In 2015, he had 4.5 points with the Braves.
American League Batter of the Day—Trevor Plouffe of the Twins homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, driving in two runs, in the 6-4 win over the Angels.
Notable—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer rose to 55th place on Box-Toppers “all-time” player rankings list after earning Player of the Game honors Saturday. Scherzer (7IP 5H R 7K W in the 5-3 win over the Astros) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 108.0 career points. He passes Cubs pitcher John Lackey (107.8) to move into 55th place among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers tracking began). He trails 54th-place player Lance Berkman (108.1). Scherzer now has 2.0 Box-Toppers points for the 2016 season. He had 21.0 points in 2015, fourth among NL pitchers.
Debut—Nomar Mazara of the Rangers made his Box-Toppers debut Saturday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Mazara (3-4 2R BI in the 8-4 win over the Orioles) made his Major League debut April 10 and was playing in his seventh career game. He is the 3,614th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Ramirez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Markakis and Plouffe each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Saturday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 4/17 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.0 | Cubs | Jake Arrieta (W,3-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 7.1 | Giants | Johnny Cueto (W,3-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| AL | 6.2 | Rays | Erasmo Ramirez (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 6.0 | Red Sox | David Price (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 6.0 | Nationals | Max Scherzer (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 5.0 | Indians | Josh Tomlin (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | Pirates | Jonathon Niese (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | `Padres | Andrew Cashner | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Braves | Nick Markakis, RF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| BAT | 2.0 | Twins | Trevor Plouffe, 3B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Reds | Zack Cozart, SS | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Rangers | Nomar Mazara, RF | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | `Tigers | Mark Lowe (H,4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Athletics | Josh Reddick, RF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | Mariners | Robinson Cano, 2B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||